1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer software. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for visually representing information in a virtual reality world.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the contents of an object generated by a conventional virtual reality system are desired to be viewed, a user must change the viewport orientation, or angle of view. A viewport in a computer-modeled three-dimensional (3D) space is a portal, or a window, into the 3D space. That is, a viewport is the point in 3D space from which the 3D space is viewed. A person's eyes are similar to a viewport in that the person's eyes act as portals into physical space. A viewport occupies a position or location in 3D space which can be defined in a well-known manner using, for example, Cartesian (x,y,z) coordinates. Three dimensional objects that lie in front of the viewport are in view. Objects that lie behind the viewport are hidden from view. A viewport orientation is the orientation of a viewport at a particular point in 3D space to provide a particular line of sight into 3D.
When a computer-generated room in 3D space is navigated, the view provided by a viewport can be imagined to be like the view of looking through an empty picture frame. As the room is navigated, the imaginary picture frame is always positioned so that the line of sight of the viewport emanates through the empty frame perpendicular to the plane of the frame opening. Moving through the room involves changing the (x,y,z) coordinates of the location of the viewport. Turning left or right involves changing the yaw orientation of the viewport. Tilting one's head from side to side corresponds to changing the roll orientation of the viewport, though such a viewport orientation change is not normally done except by flight simulation-type applications. The pitch of the viewport plane is not normally changed when navigating a 3D room. However, in situations when the contents of an open drawer are viewed, conventional 3D display systems require that a user manually change the pitch of the viewport such that the view is like flying above the drawer and looking down into the drawer. Alternatively, the user is required to manually change the orientation of the object with respect to the pitch of the viewport for viewing the object contents.
What is needed is a system and a method that displays the contents of an object in 3D space without requiring a user to manually change the pitch of a viewport for viewing the contents of the object and without requiring the user to manually change the orientation of the object with respect to the pitch of the viewport for viewing the object contents.